Plasma display panels have been used mainly as display units for office equipment, but such panels have recently been developed for use as substitutes for the cathode ray tubes. They overcome many of the disadvantages of cathode ray tubes and unlike cathode ray tubes, they provide flat screens. Plasma display panels (to be called hereinafter PDPs) are classified into AC and DC types depending on the discharge method, and are also classified into monochrome and color types, depending on the existence/absence of colors in the display of the picture like cathode ray tubes. Unlike the PDPs in which a discharge light between electrodes constitute a resolved element, i.e., a pixel of the displayed picture, a color PDP uses the discharge light as the exciting (energizing) energy for the phosphor. In the case of such a color PDP, in order for the phosphor to be excited with a sufficient optical efficiency, a sufficient distance between the electrodes should be maintained, that is, the thickness of the panel should be more thickly formed compared with a monochrome PDP.
Among the recently developed color PDPs, the PDP disclosed by Korean Patent Publication No. 79-1795 will be briefly described below. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a front plate 10 and a rear plate 14 are fixedly combined keeping an optimum gag there between by means of separating ribs 12, cathodes 15 are arranged on the inner face of the rear plate 14 in a stripe pattern, anodes 11 are arranged on the inner face of the front plate 10 in the same direction as that of the separating ribs 12, and the separating ribs 12 for preventing cross talks are clad with phosphorescent layer 13.
In such a conventional PDP constituted as described above, upon supplying of a signal current to the anode 11 and the cathode 15, a main discharge occurs, and during this process, the phosphorescent layer 13 is excited by the main discharge light so that the layer 13 will emit color beams. The phosphorescent layer 13 is excited mainly by a positive column emitted by the anode 11, because the luminous flux of the positive column is much larger than that of the negative glow, and is large enough to excite the phosphorescent layer 13. Therefore, in order for the phosphor medium to be excited with a sufficient energy, a positive column having a sufficient intensity is required, and therefore, the anode 11 and the cathode 15 be separated to a large gap, thereby increasing the thickness of the PDP.